TINY TOWN BATTLING BIG WATERS

COMMERCE -- Jeff Hopper's home is reachable only by boat. The floor of the house sits 9 feet above the ground, but already the muddy water is within a few feet of the floor.

Hopper's house is one of several in the tiny Scott County town that stand surrounded by the murky, relentless flood waters of the Mississippi River. About 65 families live in Commerce.

Many of the river town's streets are flooded and parts of the town resemble a lake. Water Street is just that, covered with water that nearly tops street signs. Trees, both in clusters and alone, punctuate the ever-expanding field of water.

The small, white building that serves as the town's post office is completely surrounded by water. The mail is being handled at a local church.

"I got everything out I can get," Hopper said Saturday as he helped a neighbor, Mary Vetter, move her belongings to relatives' homes and the safety of higher ground.

By noon, her front lawn was a soggy mess as the flood waters inched higher and higher, and worms wriggled across the grass.

Hopper's john boat was anchored to a stop sign Saturday, a short distance from his flooded home.

The flood-swollen river is expected to crest at 47 feet in Cape Girardeau on July 20. At that level, there would be at least 2 feet of water in Hopper's home.

With forecasts of more rain along the upper Mississippi, Hopper figures the worst is yet to come.

"Every drop of it runs off, it's so water logged up there," he said. "It is going to wipe this whole town out."

Ironically, Hopper had bought some higher ground in the Commerce area with the idea of building a new home within a year.

Hopper said the rampaging river might force him to move even sooner, particularly if his house is damaged substantially. "I'll never move back in it," he vowed.

And it's not only his home that's worrying him, but also his livelihood.

Hopper farms about 2,000 acres on nearby Big Island. The farm land is protected by an eight-mile-long private levee, which connects with a Corps of Engineers levee.

Efforts were under way Saturday to build up the levees, with trucks hauling in dirt and covering the piles with plastic.

Hopper said he was worried the private levee wouldn't hold and the swollen river would flow through his fields.

The massive flooding may prompt some Commerce residents to move out for good, Hopper and Vetter said.

But Vetter, for one, plans to return when the flood waters recede.

Vetter's husband, a riverboat pilot, grew up in Commerce. "We've been married 33 years. I can't give it up now," she said.

Her husband wasn't home Saturday to help with the evacuation. He was working on the river.

Commerce is no stranger to flooding and neither is Vetter. "In '83, it lacked a foot of getting in our house."

But with a higher crest forecast this time, Commerce residents like Vetter expect the worst.

Ann and Linus Huck also are prepared for the worst. Their home is situated across the street from the Vetters'.

Their furniture and belongings sit high and dry on concrete blocks. Everything from the stove to an old piano has been put up on blocks.

In 1983, flood waters reached the top step at the front-porch entrance to the house. Ann Huck said that this time the waters may cover the wooden floors in her home. "This will be worse than '83."

If the flood waters continue to climb, Huck said power to the house will have to be turned off.

By Saturday, the flood waters had taken over the garden behind the couple's home. "I'd say in about two more days we'll have to have a boat," said the 78-year-old Huck, who has served for years as the town's mayor.

But the Hucks have no plans to move out. They've lived in the home for 55 years.

Huck's no stranger to flooding. "I grew up on Big Island," she said. "When I was a little girl, it was nothing to have to move out."

She remembers cooking her food on a wood stove and walking on the water-covered first floor of her family's home on Big Island. "You'd just wade around in the water."

Founded in 1790, the life blood of Commerce has always been the river, both in good times and bad. With no flood wall to protect it, Huck said the town is at the river's mercy.

She said there's been no serious flooding since 1983. "We've been doing good for about 10 years. Our luck's played out," she said.

Huck and Hopper said sightseers have caused some problems in town. On Saturday, Scott County authorities were stopping motorists as they entered town.

"It's a shame people have to go look at people's problems," said Hopper.

David Mayberry arrived at his home by boat Saturday afternoon. Like other homes, his first floor sits on a masonry foundation, well above the ground.

A sign on one side of the house proclaims, "For Sale Cheap, Contact Owner's Wife."

Mayberry figures it may be time to move out the family's belongings. "I'm sick of this," said his wife, Marie Mayberry, as she eyed the flood waters from her front porch.

David Canady went fishing Saturday on the flooded land before returning to dock his boat in his yard, only a short distance from his mobile home.

Canady said he planned to leave his home and stay with a friend in Cape Girardeau. "I'm not going to live on my roof," he said.

For now, said Canady, the only thing to do is "pack and fish."

"I hate to see it (the flooding), but there's nothing you can do about it," he said. "It's too big to fight."